Bare-bones gold mine
This guide is about getting the most from a gold mine without upgrading or adding gold deposits. It is possible to come out ahead doing this. To grasp this idea, think of mining gold, smelting it, and making gold coins as simply an easy way to sell the mine-building materials (hardwood planks, marble, and tools) for a nice profit.
The discussion is premised on a few assumptions: the reader finds it expensive or inconvenient to purchase gold deposits (golden parrots); he or she does not have all day to play in the trade offfice and chat room making deals; he or she produces the materials for gold mine building and buffing, and does not have to trade for them; he or she is not in the gold ore-selling business—this approach loses 'money' if you are selling gold ore.
In the past, it was thought to be uneconomical to build a gold mine just for a deposit of 300 gold the geologist found. This was true when hardwood planks and marble were bringing 100 gold coins (gc) per thousand, and tools were bringing 75 gc per thousand on the Ares server. The wisdom was that it was better to just sell those materials in the trade office, rather than building gold mines, unless one could upgrade the mines and add golden parrots to keep the deposits up.
At the time of this writing, it is possible to buy hardwood planks 50 gc/1k, marble 60 gc/1k, and tools 50 gc/1k. These prices are on the low side, not average, but they do exist, and there are a couple of reasons for using them in my argument. The mine-builder is not buying the materials to build the mine, but producing them. They cost nothing. The argument is whether to sell them instead of building the mine.
Whenever there are deals at low prices, lots that are priced higher do not move. So even if the average price is higher, our hypothetical player would sell his commodities at the low price because each lot will sell quickly, and therefore he can post the next item without paying gold coins, and get on with the game. If this doesn't sound like your style, we'll soon see that the method works even if the player could sell for the average price.
The method also uses an important technique that not many people think about: salvaging a mine by tearing it down before it is empty. This returns 25% of the building cost. Ideally, one would wait and tear down the mine when there is only 1 gold left. Out of the original deposit of 300, we will mine 299, and using 2x buffs, that will be 598 gold ore. We will *not* upgrade the mine, as upgrading is not cost-effective with this method.
A level 1 gold mine extracts 56-60 gold deposit per 12 hours with minimum travel time, so it will take 60 to 64 hours to mine our 299. Let's say 64 hours of 2x buffing will be needed, and we have a friend to apply the buffs and make them last longer — that works out to 7 aunt irma baskets plus a fish plate, or the equivalent in sandwiches. The going rate for baskets and sandwiches, if one were to sell them, is 1 gc per hour of buff as specified in the description. We could sell our buffs and get 44 gc instead of putting them on the mine.
Now let's look at the analysis:
Cost of gold mine construction & operation vs selling the materials for gold coins
1400 hardwood planks, less 25% salvage is 1050 hardwook planks, worth 53 gc
1400 marble, less 25% salvage is 1050 marble, worth . . . . . . . . . 63 gc
1500 tools, less 25% salvage is 1125 tools, worth . . . . . . . . . . . 56 gc
44 hours of 2x buffs (=66 when applied by a friend) . . . . . . . . . . 44 gc
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Total amount for which the above materials could be sold . . . . . . . . 216 gc
2x Buffing a level 2 smelter and level 2 coinage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 gc
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Total worth of materials used to produce 299 gc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 gc
One gold in the ground yields two gold ore, two gold bars, and one gold coin in the end with 2x buffs all the way through the chain, so 299 gc is what you get.
The amount you will spend on buffs the rest of the way through depends on what level smelter and coinage you have, the higher the better. Most people can afford a level 2 smelter and coinage fairly quickly after building them. 'Profit' increases with higher level smelter and coinage. Note that it is not cost-effective to upgrade the gold mines when using this method.
Even if you can sell hardwood planks for 65 gc, marble for 75 gc, and tools for 70 gc, you still come out slightly ahead mining gold the way I suggest. Why not have some fun making gold coins, without buying expensive buffs or gold deposits? Spend your coins and gems on other things. Spend your time in the trade office doing other things. Just remember, never let your gold chain run un-buffed !
Have fun,
Waybald